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The Glory of the 
Triune God 


a 


WS 


ff 


By F. BETTEX 


English Translation by 
ANDREAS BARD 


BURLINGTON, IOWA 
THE GERMAN LITERARY BOARD 


1914 


PRUETT etcetera 


HUTCH ELEANOR 


SUMTHIN 


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COPYRIGHT 1914 
By R. NEUMANN 
BURLINGTON, IOWA 


bagero; line If, 
Page 21, line 6. 
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Rage l/)/hiney >, 
Page 17, line 13. 
Page 53, line 4. 
Page 27, line 4. 
Page 33, line 2: 


ERRATA 


Instead of “‘servants’’—‘‘savants.”’ 
Instead of “‘servants’—‘‘savants.”’ 
Instead of “Bethemoth’—“Behemoth.”’ 
Instead of “day-stars’’—‘“day-star.”’ 
Instead of “murmers’”—“murmurs.” 


Instead of “murmer’—‘murmur.” 


Instead of “planets’”—‘plants.”’ 
Instead of “heavens of heavens’— 
“heaven of heavens.” 


omer 


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IBN ASed AW INE 

ae ath pi, 
Het 

wets 


y ve 


FOREWORD 


THEISM seems to be “in the air.” Some 
DY tence years ago it was generally be- 
lieved that there was a Creator of heaven 
and earth. Have we made progress since? Yes, 
but not toward God! Proclaiming the eternity 
of Matter and Force, preachers and theologians 
as well as monists and socialists deny the exist- 
ence of the Supreme Being. They know not 
the Father, reject the Son and have no use for 
the Holy Spirit, resembling a blind man giving 
instructions about the rays of the sun. Can they 
teach us? I trow not. Ho ye, still worthy to 
be called Christians! Behold the glory of the 
triune God and, beholding it, rise to a vision 
more spiritual! 


PROF. F. BETTEX. 


Ueberlingen, May 19117. 


. 
; 


4 


a 


CONTENTS 


I. Great Is the Lord; and His Greatness 
[Ss Unsearchablesk ere. cece ss 


Ebe GreatvA [sols the: Son sme ae eee 


III. I Believe In the Holy Ghost Who 
SpakerDy the. Prophets; 0 onser 


I 


Great Is the Lord; and His 
Greatness is Unsearchable 


OD IS GREAT! A fact beyond dis- 
Cs pute to those who believe. And still, 

how few who mark, learn and inwardly 
digest it! Why do they sigh and sorrow, weep and 
worry, if they truly believe? Why discord and 
discussion of doctrine among “the children of 
God?” Why pride and prejudice? The truth ts 
that their God is TOO LITTLE. But, never 
mind, I am guilty myself. 

God’s greatness overwhelms us. What indeed 
is man, this tiny grain of dust, that he dare 
speak of it? Whether he trembles at the thought 
of His justice which some day will cause the 
universe to quake; or ponders the mystery of 
His love which gave the Savior to a dying world; 
or meditates on the unfathomable wisdom poured 
out upon creation; everywhere he is forced to 
confess: “What is man that Thou art mindful 
of him!” And yet God rejoices in our attitude 
of reverence and adoration which is infinitely 
more reasonable than the spirit of those who, 
forgetful of the greatness of their Maker, waste 
time on the glorification of their own littleness. 


i 


Let us gather some fragments of His grand- 
eur, starting with the Alphabet, given to us for 
that purpose, and gradually climbing the ladder 
of Jacob. 

First comes that which is natural and after- 
wards that which is spiritual. Our soul-life has 
a material foundation. The eyes of the child 
are opened that it may discover in the visibie 
universe the idea of its Maker. Whatever we 
call dark or light, big or small, near or far, aye 
our conceptions of good and evil are made clear 
to us through some material manifestation. And 
because of our tiny view-point, our weak and 
insufficient vision, God “who made the world 
and all that is therein,’ has given us a revela- 
tion of his grandeur, a universe wonderful to 
behold. “God hath shewed it unto them. For the 
invisible things of Him from the creation of the 
world are clearly seen, being understood by the 
things that are made” (Rom. 1, 19 and 20). 

This natural revelation which serves as the 
first spiritual lesson for the growing child is also 
given to the Gentiles “that they should seek the 
Lord, if haply they might feel after Him and 
find Him.” In fact they will be judged accord- 
ing to this “law of nature” as the apostle calls it. 
Have not many of them sincerely sought the 
Creator in this manner and found Him? God’s 
order is immutable and the revelation of nature 
is given to all as the outer court of truth; it is 
part of that “light which lighteth every man that 


8 


is born into the world” and therefore is not to 
be underestimated or ignored. 

God does things in due season and after hav- 
ing provided mankind with the daily bread of 
intelligence, has at this time, when millions are 
turning from the truth, allowed us to catch un- 
expected glimpses of His glory. The discovery 
of radium, for instance, and its concomitant 
phenomena have _ practically revolutionized 
theories of matter, hitherto generally accepted. 
Our servants are puzzled. They ponder God’s 
problems. When microscope and telescope were 
invented they were dazzled by the miracles in a 
drop of water and by the sublimity of the starry 
sky! But they misused the truth. They pro- 
ceeded to tell us that astronomy, revealing a uni- 
verse so magnificent, made it unthinkable that 
God should have singled out our tiny earth for 
the advent of His Son! (A son of Jove, a 
pagan would have argued, must come at least from 
Babylon or Memphis, from Rome or Athens to 
impress the world with any new legislation; he 
must appear as a Pharaoh or Caesar, as a heroic 
youth to command any attention; the son of a 
carpenter born in an obscure village will never 
prove his divine origin). The microscope, on 
the other hand, by which protoplasma were 
found in the tiniest seed misled scientists into 
the assertion that the universe had made itself, 
ascending automatically from a cell to man. 


They omitted from the program of creation the 
very power of God. 

We are not dealing with these gentlemen at 
present. We appeal to those who, while believ- 
ing in the Creator, have not given a sufficient 
thought to His incomparable glory. 

There are Christians who assume that Paul’s 
reference to a “natural revelation” merely con- 
cerns the pagans. They hold that they have out- 
grown evidences gathered from the voices of 
Nature and limit their appreciation to an occa- 
sional outburst of sentimentalism, when aroused 
by the spectacles of the snow-clad Alps or the 
display of thunder and lightning over storm- 
tossed seas. However they place no spiritual 
significance upon such phenomena. They may 
feel a mood of elevation when gazing upon the 
star-lit sky and exclaim with David: ‘What is 
man that Thou art mindful of him!’ But the 
moment you enter more deeply into the discus- 
sion of the wonders of heaven, you find them 
indifferent listeners. Should you tell them that 
the Almighty, the Lord of Eternity, has been 
creating in periods beyond our imagination mil- 
lions of shining worlds, planets, moons and whole 
solar systems, aye that even the smaller streaks 
of light are forever being transformed into 
comets whose tail extends through millions of 
miles; tell them that according to our calcula- 
tions of gravity there are numberless worlds, 
void of all light, and that around one hundred 


10 


and twenty million of enormous suns millions of 
invisible worlds are describing their circle; tell 
them that the beams, flung from the pole star, 
when man is thirty, will only reach his eyes, 
when at four score he is about to close them in 
death—then your complacent Christian will get 
uneasy. He scents “Materialism” or the personal 
infidelity of a Laplace, while others insist that 
our little earth must surely be the astronomical 
centre of the universe (!) and that the idea of 
people living on other stars is utterly preposter- 
ous. The truth is that their conception of God 
is SO primitive that the idea of the boundless uni- 
verse lies altogether beyond their horizon. “All 
the stars,” said a noted theologian, “are extinct 
volcanoes.” Surely a compliment to the Creator! 
Our pity for those who were never thrilled with 
the thought that God’s very breath is permeating 
infinitude with its innumerable worlds! 

But the glory of the Creator is not confined 
to his manifestation of celestial grandeur. Even 
from the one thousandth particle of dust He can 
create miracles of art and life as marvelous as 
the most gigantic fire-worlds hurled through 
space. 

Take a microscope magnifying only about 
thirty times and look at the humblest flower, aye 
at the weed by the wayside. What do you see? A 
structure of colored cells, radiant as a ruby! 
Columns of ivory! And above them chalices fullof 
golden balls! But only the stronger glass will re- 


11 


WT age Ste ee OS ea we age # 


maar 


he ee ad 


Ce ee ee eh 


OO Ra we 


veal the true secret of the flower. Take the almost 
invisible white spot you find on the algae of 
Helgoland and view it through a powerful micro- 
scope. Instantly you will see a wonderfully deli- 
cate little crawfish, almost transparent, and 
equipped with multitudinous limbs, tentacles, 
hairs, elegantly finished in the minutest detail. 
Enlarge the vision a million times and you will 
discover structural perfections beyond the 
architectural glories of the Cathedral of Cologne 
or of Notre Dame de Paris. Why all these 
complicated organs? What did the Creator 
mean to reveal to the astonished angelic host long 
before the creation of man or the invention of 
the microscope? Or does He do things thought- 
lessly and without purpose? What is the lesson. 
we are to derive from the marvelous construc- 
tion of the most insignificant creatures? Or has 
He accidentaly created more organs than neces- 
sary, being overbusy with the infinite diversity 
of His task? 

Even smaller creatures are those fascinating 
animalcules of the sea, generally known as 
phosphorescence. Some scientists have been so 
captivated by the beauty of these luminous 
denizens of the deep that they have considered 
them the very masterpiece of nature. They rise, 
fall, play, flash, live, die. What kind of a soul 
do they have? What view of things? What 
purpose and aim? Raoul France has proven that 
even these infinitesimal creatures choose their 


2 


prey and pursue it intelligently. They see, even 
without eyes; they think, even without brains; 
desire, even without a heart; do they also ex- 
perience pleasure and pain? 

Some of these tiniest beings have an eye and 
perhaps an optic nerve leading into the brain. 
Thus we must assign to them a vision, magnify- 
ing objects at least three hundred times. The 
little creature would therefore see the world 
ninety thousand times larger than we _ see 
it and would discover what remains unseen by 
our eyes. This means: A VIEW OF LIFE! 
Why else the eye? And what kind of eyes? 
And impressions? What kind of impressions? 
Science knows nothing of the biology, physiology 
or psychology of these animalcules. Here 
thought remains ship-wrecked, lost on an un- 
known shore, surrounded by the misty sea of 
the origin of life; for more awe-inspiring than 
the leviathan of the deep and the Bethemoth of 
the Nile are the innumerable creatures of the sea 
with their untold history, extending over a name- 
less period of time. 

And yet there are Christians who confronted 
with these facts seem almost shocked that 
their God should take such a vital interest in 
curious creatures of this kind. They may admire 
the lower creation in a superficial way like 
children amused with automatic toys, but they 
decline to grow serious on the subject. They 
do not comprehend that it is the very greatness 


13 


of God which explains His care for that which 
seems small. He in whose presence the solar 
system is but dust and all mankind but a drop 
in the bucket, considers worthy of His wisdom 
and power the wing of a mosquito and the in- 
visible atom. We, on the other hand, are too 
small, to grasp His greatness in little things and 
find nothing in them of the power of the Eternal! 

Even in the very humblest we can find foot- 
prints of the Creator. Thousands of delicately 
microscopic diatomes which in untold numbers 
fill stream, lake and sea and of whose existence 
mankind for more than five thousand years has 
remained in utter ignorance, reveal the law of 
central radiation which is apparent in the flower 
as well as in the solar system and which may 
serve as a very symbol of the Deity. Symmetry 
everywhere! Who explains the mysterious law 
which creates the same pattern on either wing 
of the butterfly or the pheasant? Who marks 
the leopard with unerring pencil? As far as I 
know science has never ventured an explanation. 
The idea of symmetry can be traced through 
the entire universe; it is apparent in flower and 
fish and fowl, culminating in that marvelous 
creature called man. How unsearchable are His 
counsels! Who can imagine billions of mole- 
cules, atoms and electrons circulating around 
each other swifter than the sun in their orbs 
and being attracted or repelled by immutable 


14 


Sas ae Sante 


laws from which they cannot escape even for 
the fraction of a second! 

Just stop and think what simple means God 
employs to produce miraculous results. Shift- 
ing about three straight lines He creates the 
world of crystals, some of which have as many 


as three hundred different forms. Assembling .~— 


around a stem proportions of foliage, He makes 
this simple law evoke the sun-flower, the pine, 
the palm and two hundred thousand varieties 
of plants and trees. Three sections of the cone 
suggest the unbroken course of innumerable 
stars. Even sceptical astronomers like Dr. Klein, 
dazzled by this manifestation of wisdom, are 
forced to exclaim: “We admit that our world 
is so marvelously constructed that it seems to 
have been made by a Supreme Intelligence, en- 
dowed with unlimited creative power,’ adding, 
“this has been recognized by the thinkers of all 
ages!” 

Can we fathom the idea of the Infinite who 
having created the universe, now witnesses the 
course of innumerable suns as well as the 
hosanna of His angels, the prattling of babes, 
the hum of the bee, the whisper of pines; who 
watches over the eight hundred million human 
beings asleep and the eight hundred million 
people awake, guiding, directing and inspiring 
them every second! “O Lord, how great are 
Thy works! Thy thoughts are very deep!” 


15 


However, it is not necessary to find God in the 
tempestuous wave or in the rolling of thunder ; 
wheresoever we look we discover His wisdom, 
His power and wealth of thought. “Where shall 
I go from Thy spirit; and whither shall I flee 
from Thy countenance!’ 

With incomparable delight I looked through 
the catalogue of a gardener which presented 
pictures of a vast variety of flowers. Viewing 
these delicately beautiful, ever changing types 
of floral development I felt impelled to exclaim, 
“Father, what an artist Thou art!” Passing 
through a field covered with all shades and 
grades of shrubbery, I was impressed with the 
absurdity of some Christians who are ever 
striving to put all human minds into the same 
mould. Is not every flower beautiful “after its 
own kind” and should not God welcome a variety 
of opinions? And if I behold a tree, which, in 
seasonable progress, without rest, without haste 
is nearing its completion, I am reminded of some 
folk, who forgetful of God’s law, desire to 
see blossoms in winter time and get the full 
grown ear, ere the fields are green. O Christian 
men, be strong as the oak, rooted firmly in the 
ground of God’s truth, though storms be hissing 
through the boughs! O Christian women, Deas 
like roses of Sharon and lilies of the field, sub- 
missive to the divine law of the Father! 

Ever fair is the world of God. How the heart 
rejoices while the trees are in bloom, the larks 


16 


are singing and the sun pours o’er the earth 
its greetings of gold! What calm in the soul 
while the stars awake in the dreamland of 
heaven! What sacred emotions when we watch 
the advent of the day-stars! How glorious the 
mighty, foaming wave! The golden sunset pro- 
claims: God is great! The boundless sea: He 
is infinite! The lofty hills: He is eternal! The 
shepherding clouds tell of the changes of life 
and also of His mercy that endures forever ; the 
tempest reveals His majesty; Niagara comes 
thundering along like the word of the risen Lord; 
even the brooklet murmers songs without words, 
while the birds in the air and the lilies of the 
field remind us of a Father’s loving care. All 
things about us are grand, deep, a part of God’s 
world; my heart, too, is expanding and like the 
sea gull which, lighting upon a wave, is serenely 
rocked to and fro, unmindful of the storm, I 
feel secure in the thought that underneath are 
the everlasting arms! A man born blind and 
suddenly acquiring his sight is dazzled by the 
beauty of the universe. Like the lad of Altdorf, 
whose sight was restored by J. Stilling, he ex- 
claims: “I see the glory of the Lord.” But 
many there are who have eyes that see not. 

I know Christians who say, “One thing is 
needful.” They insist that they do not need 
nature for their soul’s salvation. I admit this. 
We are healed through the blood of Christ. He 
forgives us our sins. However, after we have 


17 


grown well and become acceptable in the sight 
of God, we should not sit at the highway of life 
and relate to all passers-by the history of our 
disease. The time has come, when we should 
walk heavenward, develop the inner man and 
utilize God’s method of inspiration. It surely is 
not His will that we should close our eyes toward 
His glorious work, which we are so apt to use 
for personal gain, for the acquiring of fame, 
wealth and comfort. Should not the grandeur 
of the universe, pleasing even to the Creator, 
(Psalm 104), be also pleasing to the creature? 
Should not the Christian have an open ear for 
“the groaning of the whole creation which 
waiteth for the manifestation of the Sons of 
God?’ We are to blame ourselves, if nature 
fails to inspire us. Whatsoever the world offers 
in food and raiment, whatsoever broadens our 
horizon and deepens our power of thought—and 
is there anything more stimulating to the mind 
than the contemplation of the universe ?—will 
help also the Christian in the knowledge of truth 
and in the reflection of the same in words and 
action. If the true greatness of the Lord dwells 
within you, you will radiate His light. It will 
make luminous your daily work, will resound in 
your voice and edify those around you. As He 
increases within you, you will decrease in your 
own eyes. That is the true gain, wisdom, 
temperance, peace! Hebrew scholars called God 
“Fl Schaddai,” that means, “the Moderate.” He 


18 


sets bounderies to the ocean and says “it is 
enough.” Recognize His greatness and He will 
heal you from your mad desire to be great. 
What kind of a senseless universe we should 
have made, had God transferred His power to 
us! Everything in it would have suggested ex- 
aggeration and lack of proportion. 3 

It is just because we close our eyes toward the 
glory of God that we fail to grow beyond our 
narrow views. A clergyman, whom I told of the 
beauty of the Rhine, especially at the Falls, was 
bigoted enough to say that he “would not take 
two steps to see anything like that.” He failed 
to understand that the same Power which 
thunders from the foaming wave emanates from 
Him to whom he says: “Thine is the Power.” 
What other force can there possibly be? Or is 
this Pantheism? Yes, if Paul is a Pantheist 
when he says, “in Him we live and move and 
have our being.” Without God there is no life, 
not even the life of Satan in hell. 

Others there are who are apt to underestimate 
the importance of matter. Their spirituality is 
greater than that of God. For did not God en- 
dow us with a physical body? Does not the Bible 
speak of a new earth and our creed of the resur- 
rection of the body? If there is to be naught but 
spirituality, why did the risen Lord reveal hands 
and feet to His astonished disciples and eat with 
them honey and fish? 


19 


Just because we know so little of nature, and 
take such a superior attitude toward her revela- 
tions, our Christianity savors of artificiality. 
We should heed the word of the Master, “Except 
ye be converted and become as little children, ye 
shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Not 
long ago I read this bit of necrology: “During 
his last years he sought after holiness and even 
considered it sinful to smile.” What a delusion! 
The Psalmist says, “He that sitteth in the heav- 
ens, shall laugh,’ and again, “your mouth shall 
be full of laughter.” Long faces and pessimism, 
despair and despondency belong to the children 
of darkness, who know not God, and who may 
justly have an anticipation of the gloom which 
they daily approach. But Christians have a 
right to laugh “in the natural holiness and the 
holy naturalness which belong to the children 
and heirs of the Creator.” 

Because we are ignorant of the majestic re- 
pose of nature we hasten and hurry on our path; 
we run after new fads and fashions as if we 
could not afford to wait. Because we have no 
clear picture of universal law in our mind, our 
religious thinking is obscure and. wavering, even 
illogical. The children of this world are wiser 
than we. Look over the “questions and answers” 
column in the Christian press and blush at the 
ignorance, the confusion, the chaotic mentality 
of so-called followers of Jesus. 


20 


Brethren let us have a worthy idea of God! 
Pray that a ray of His glory may lighten your 
soul! Then the discords will vanish like fog at 
the break of day. Grasp His power and your 
cares will disappear. Use His wisdom and you 
need not seek the sophistries of the servants. 
Trust His guidance and you will place the reins. 
in the strong hands of a Father who alone can 
manage the wild steeds of life, while you, His 
child, move safely on, with light in your eye and 
a great calm in your heart! 

Such a faith would also revolutionize your idea 
of prayer. You would no longer hold that every 
time you ask anything, the Almighty would have 
to interfere in the plan of the universe to grant 
your petition. I am thinking of a venerable 
clergyman who ordered his servant to set the 
table, although there was nothing to eat. Just 
at that time a wealthy neighbor sent a basket of 
food and the housekeeper ventured the ejacula- 
tion: “Dear pastor, you should fall on your 
knees and praise the Lord for the wonderful 
fulfillment of your prayer.’ The minister 
simply said: “I have always known that God 
looks after His children.” What caused my go- 
ing to Germany, my activity there, my subse- 
quent marriage, the birth of my children, etc? 
One evening, while still at Nizza, my father 
asked me if I wished to make a call with him. 
Just as we arrived a letter came from Germany, 
and my course of life was determined. Was this 


ak 


a special Providence? No, a commonplace in 
the kingdom of heaven. How often were things 
arranged otherwise than I had planned! It is 
better, however, to experience these things than 
to relate them. A child of God knows that all. 
prayers are answered. You ask for health and 
receive additional suffering, but God is healing 
your soul. You ask for money and lose what 
little you have, but you learn to pray “Give us 
this day our daily bread!” You ask for truth 
and find great darkness, but we must “through 
much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” 

Furthermore this faith would keep us out of 
useless quibbles about questions which no one 
can answer. We would not waste words on Pre- 
destination and Free Will. If, for instance, some 
author writes on “The Origin of Evil,’ and 
another on “The Fall of Satan,” I denounce such 
dogmatic arrogance as an unbecoming presump- 
tion of morals in dealing with the unfathomable 
mysteries of God (Isaiah 45, 15). They resemble 
the little boy who tried to dip the ocean into a 
sand-hole. How iove and justice are harmonized 
in the heart of God, no human mind is able to 
say. If you remind me of the words, “away 
from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!” | 
call your attention to the prophecy that God 
shall be “all in all.” Let us bow before this 
mystery. I leave it with God. Not only because 
our little notions can in no sense alter His plans, 
but because His will is evermore supreme and al- 


2a 


together perfect. This blessed assurance gives 
me peace. 

O, for the majesty of silence! How little we 
realize it! Even the worldly-minded prefer the 
man of silence to the babbler. When Hannibal 
and Scipio met, immediately before the decisive 
battle, they confronted each other silently for a. 
long time. Imagine the two greatest strategists 
of ancient times. The hot-blooded, dark-browed 
soldier of Carthage on the one hand; the calm, 
deliberate Roman on the other. Both realized 
that the morrow would decide as to whether 
Europe or Africa, Zeus or Moloch would attain 
supremacy. Both knew that one of them would 
perish with the glory of his fatherland. Both 
were silent. Both thought highly of their oppon- 
ent. It was a manly encounter. Do Christians 
meet that way? 

Even more imposing is the silence of the Bible. 
Moses was silent for forty years tending the 
flock of Jethro, before he proclaimed from 
Mount Sinai the law of God. Elijah wrapped 
himself in silence for a long time (1 Kings, 
18, 1), before his voice called from heaven a rain 
of fire upon the priests of Baal. Christ, though 
knowing that He must be about His Father’s 
business, was silent for thirty years. And just 
as Moses was silent concerning what he saw with 
Jehovah for twice forty days—a divine period— 
so also Paul never spoke of what he saw in the 
“third heaven” and in Paradise. 


23 


Most imposing of all the silence of God. 
When He rested of His labors on the seventh 
day, His rest was sublimer than all His work. 
He hallowed this day. Do you grasp this? 
Again He is silent, while humanity is reveling 
in sin and shame. What burden of guilt on the 
shoulders of Christian nations which through a 
Cortez or Pizarro exterminated the natives of 
Mexico and Peru! We force opium and booze 
down the throats of barbarians, import into their 
midst the vices of Europe and America, depopu- 
late whole areas along the banks of the Congo. 
Arabian merchants while crying, “Allah is merci- 
ful,’ drive through the burning sands of the 
deserts long trains of slaves whose backs are 
bleeding under pitiless lashes. But God is silent. 
“Christian” cities surpass Nineveh and Babylon 
in cruelty and moral corruption, but God remains 
silent, even while His name is being blasphemed 
and His altars sink into ruins. His Excellency, 
Ernest von Haeckel, explains to some thousand 
students that the world has made itself and calls 
God a “gaseous vertebrate.” Evangelical clergy- 
men, pledged upon the Augsburg Confession, 
mount their pulpit with stole and surplice and 
assure their communicants that to believe in God 
or devil, in heaven and hell is utter folly. And 
God 1s silent. } : 

There is a hidden terror in this silence. It 
resembles the dead calm which precedes a violent 
storm. We are awed, when reading of the 


24 


silence of Ulysses who, unknown to Penelope’s 
wooers, refused to reply to their abuse and 
“swore vengeance in his soul.” But what of the 
silence of the Infinite who, while witnessing the 
ever growing heap of human iniquities, remains 
silent, though it was He who said: “Vengeance 
is mine!” 

“There was silence in heaven about the space 
of half an hour’ (Rev. 8, 1). The seven seals 
which, for seven thousand years, had held the 
material and spiritual book of creation, were 
opened; but before judgment was _ passed, 
silence reigned supreme. The voices of the 
heavenly host are hushed. No clap of thunder. 
Stillness all around. Hark, the sound of a trum- 
pet! Prepare for the final act of the drama of 
history! Who shall escape from the wrath of 
God? Even now Michael leading the army of 
light prepares for the utter defeat and destruc- 
tion of Satan and his angels! 

This silence of God overwhelms us. We bow 
our heads and adore. O well for those who can 
put their trust in Him, not as servants, but as 
children and heirs of life everlasting! Christ 
died for us and heaven is ours. 

But woe to those who have lost their God! 
Vainly they seek Him among the tombs of Egypt 
and Babylon; they find Him not. No wonder 
they look for something to replace their loss, 
worship the monkey, seek the origin of life in 
a jellyfish, gratify the flesh and proclaim the eter- 


25 


nity of matter. Meanwhile hysterical women > 
are preaching Theosophy and “Christian Sci- 
ence.’ The world seems wrapt in spiritual 
gloom. People have ceased to believe, to love, 
to hope. The very foundations crumble under 
their feet. Others rise in open rebellion against 
established morality. Let us rend their bonds 
asunder! They would have intoxicating orgies 
and then pass into nothingness. But even the 
thought of nothingness offers no peace for they 
must carry with them scars of memory never to 
be erased, and the worm that cannot die? 

God is Love indeed, but He is also Justice. 
He has given us this earth asa trust. For more 
than six thousand years He has been a silent 
witness to our transactions. He has given us 
full charge. In spite of all our misuse and un- 
worthiness He has allowed His sun to rise on the 
just and on the unjust. But there is to be an 
end to human mismanagement. “If then I be a 
father where is mine honor? And if I bea 
master where is my fear?’ (Mal. 1:16.) God 
gave us the world and the splendid revelation of 
nature that we should find in them His presence 
and power. Surely we shall have to give an 
account of our attitude, when He shall appear 
in the fullness of His glory at a time known only 
to Himself. He will then open the books of 
final judgment and square the debit and credit 
of the mismanaged trust. He will revise false 
entries and inaccurate bookkeeping. Woe to 


26 


the unjust householders! What have you done 
with the trust given in your charge? How have 
you dealt with my creation, with the gold, the 
silver, the planets, the animals, aye with your 
fellowmen? I gave you the earth that you should 
dwell thereon in peace and concord, but you have 
mingled with its dust the ashes of the slain. The 
ground on which you walk is saturated with the 
tears and the blood of the tortured and sup- 
pressed. The cry for vengeance ascends to me 
from millions who perish in dungeons and 
slavery, on scaffolds and on the field of battle. 
Did I not give you the universe that you should 
seek and find Him who made it? Have your 
civilizations, your arts and sciences contributed 
to the glory of My name?” 

“The Lord looked down from heaven upon 
the children of men, to see if there were any 
that did understand and seek God. They are 
all gone aside; there is none that doeth good, no, 
not one.” «(Psalm 14,/2,°3); 

This is the final word of God to man: “And 
I saw an angel fly in the midst of heaven, having 
the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that 
dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and 
kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a 
loud voice, Fear God and give glory to Him 
that made heaven and earth, and the sea and the 
fountains of water” (Rev 14, 6, 7). How gen- 
erously God passes over the unnumbered short- 
comings and sins of mankind, trying to square 


27 


all accounts, if we would merely believe in the 
first great statement that “in the beginning God 
made heaven and earth!” He will be satisfied 
with this simple confession of faith. This is 
“the fear of the Lord, the beginning of wisdom” 
which proves that we are not hopelessly lost. 
Whether or not we have “seen the invisible 
things of Him from the creation of the world,” 
will be the final test. 

However, even now, there are millions of His 
own creatures who refuse to find Him. As in the 
days of Noah people did not heed the warning 
of God but continued in their quarrels and sins, 
their blasphemies and dissipations, so even today 
the world mocks the truth. What do they care 
about the wrath of God? What is to them the 
judgment to come? Far more interested they are 
in Rock Island stock, in Panama bonds, in elec- 
tion returns and tariff legislation! This is the 
carcass that attracts the eagle of judgment! 

“All things are transitory”—so runs the refrain 
of our poetry. Alas, it is not true! If human 
words and deeds, if vice and sin and shame 
could be dissolved into nothingness, we might well 
lay us down to eternal sleep, while Lethe would 
end the troubled dream of earth. The fact is 
that nothing perishes. No atom drops out of 
God’s universe and well may we tremble when 
we think of the resurrection of our sins! Even, 
while you are reading, a picture of yourself as 
well as of the entire earth is being photographed 


28 


by rays of light which, with flashlike speed, 
carry it through the Milky Way toward un- 
known regions to be searched by all-seeing eyes. 
Egyptian priests called ether “the archives of 
the gods.” How awful the truth! The in- 
visible scribes of God are keeping the records 
of whatever is taking place. These records may 
be temporarily shelved. But whenever the 
Almighty will shake the foundations of the uni- 
verse, we shall hear the accurate echo of all 
words ever spoken, be they curses or blessings, 
blasphemies or prayers; all treaties of peace and 
declarations of war; all speeches of flattery and 
seduction, of boasting and braggadocio ac- 
curately reproduced by the universal phono- 
graph of God! Every second electric waves, 
floating around the universe, preserve the record 
of the race. Nothing has perished, not even the 
voice of your yesterdays; you shall hear again 
every word you have ever spoken. Just as vapor 
and fog ascend to come down again in the form 
of thunder and hail, so our energies, misused 
for the purpose of sin, will descend in torrents 
of fire and blood so that we literally reap what 
we have sown. ‘“‘For they have shed the blood 
of saints and prophets and Thou hast given 
them blood to drink” (Rev. 16, 6). Aye, even 
the dead, of whom the hangman said laughingly, 
“they will never return.” They will rise to raise 
accusing hands and no power of man shall ever 
again banish them from sight and memory. If 


29 


after the seven great periods of woe the judge 
of the universe will appear, we shall be over- 
awed by the great glory of His majesty. Even 
the “great men, and the rich men, and the chief 
captains, and the mighty men, and every bond- 
man and every free man” (Rev. 6, 15) shall 
then know the greatness of God. They will see 
that “the day of His wrath has come.” 

“Lacrimosa Dies Itta!’ Tearful indeed the 
day, when man rises over his ashes, merely to 
receive the verdict. Therefore “CHRISTE 
Exve1ison! Dona Nopis REQuIEM!” Christ have 
mercy upon us! Grant us Thy peace! 

But after the day of judgment the Creator 
will call into existence a new heaven and a new 
earth, while the choirs of the angelic host will 
mingle with the songs of the redeemed hosannas 
to the Most High: “Praise God from whom all 
blessings flow!” 

“Trou ArT WortHy, O Lorp, To RECEIVE 
GLory AND Honor AND PowER; For THou HAst 
CREATED ALL THINGS, AND FOR THy PLEASURE 
Tuey ARE AND WERE CREATED!” (Rev. 4, 11). 


30 


II 
Great Also Is the Son 


OOKING for the blessed hope, and the 
glorious appearing of the great God and 
our Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2, 13). 
“In the beginning was the Word... . and the 
~ Word was God” (John 1, 1). This divine Son, 
light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not 
made, being of one substance with the Father, 
has been with God throughout eternity. Un- 
fathomable mystery before which we stand in 
awe and adoration! 

But is not the picture of Father and Son 
purely human and dare we apply it to the deity? 
Let us consider this question. Whenever our 
eyes are being epened toward reality, we de- 
tect behind that which is transient and visible a 
prototype eternal. Moreover we discover that 
the invisible, eternal is just as tangible and real 
as the visible. Finally we observe that the in- 
visible is the truth of things and the world of 
appearances merely the symbol of an eternal 
thought. Thus heaven is gradually becoming a 
tangible fact and whatever the earth presents 
merely the shadow of divine realities. There- 
fore, instead of asserting that we humanize God 


31 


by speaking of Him as Father and Son, we 
should rather seek the divine prototype for the 
earthly relation between parent and child. Ii 
there were not a Father in heaven, there never 
could have been a father on earth! If there were 
no thrones, nor crowns, nor harps, nor songs in 
heaven, they would never have appeared on 
earth. If no rivers flowed in the world beyond, 
if trees and flowers did not grow on the fields 
of heaven, we should never have found them 
here. This is the true, the biblical point of view. 
It also explains our unquenchable thirst after 
the eternal, after the waters of truth and the 
flower that does not fade. It is the evil spirit 
within us which persists in telling us that 
eternity is a mere shadow and that beyond the 
grave there is naught but a spiritual existence, 
a sort of an everlasting fog. 

Long before the dawn of time the divine son 
partook of the ideas of the deity. At the 
decree of Elohim that a world should be called 
into being, he voiced the thought and thereby 
became the “Word.” “Without him was not any 
thing made that was made” (John 1, 3). Crea- 
tion is the utterance of the “Word” by which all 
things were created. What was this Word, 
spoken by the divine Son? Nothing but the 
Great NAME in which lies upgathered the source 
and secret of all beings. Before the creation of 
the universe there was naught. When the great 
name was spoken, thoughts assumed visibility. 


32 


Then the Son became “the firstborn of every 
creature,’ and made the heavens of heavens, 
cherubims and the angelic host. He, “by whom 
God made the worlds,” (Hebrew 1, 2) is the 
great cause of all things visible and invisible, 
“whether they be thrones or dominions, or princi- 
palities, or powers; all things were created by 
Him and for Him” (Col. 1, 6). | 

Every creature is therefore but one letter of 
the divine name. In this letter it has the secret 
of its individuality. In this letter lies the possi- 
bility of its evolution for the time and space 
and all eternity. Man does not live by bread 
alone, but by every word that proceedeth from 
the mouth of God. This truth was emphasized 
by Moses, when he applied it not primarily to 
the law of Sinai, but rather to the heavenly 
manna. Strictly speaking man lives by a variety 
of divine words, whether they appear in the 
shape of material things or in ideas derived 
therefrom; whether they furnish food for the 
body or food for the mind. The whole world 
is manna for mankind. 

But the Infinite before whom there is neither 
past nor present but only an eternal Now, saw 
the fall of man. He saw the Prince of darkness, 
that element of discord which by placing into 
spheres of light a tiny black spot soon over- 
clouded the whole human race. Incomprehensi- 
ble mystery! The Father said to the Son: 
“The world which thou madest has swung out 


33 


of its appointed course. Reconcile it to me and 
reclaim the lost.” “And the Word was flesh and 
dwelt among us” (John 1, 14). Who can fathom 
the thought? None save Elohim. 

However, we note a significant correspondence 
between the fact that the world was created by 
the son and that the son was charged to restore 
it to the truth. How gloriously obedient was 
Jesus to the divine decree, accomplishing his 
mission with the exclamation: “It is finished!” 
For that reason the Father gave to Him “all 
power in heaven and earth,” made Him the 
eternal heir of all creation and placed Him on 
the throne of judgment. “The Father hath 
committed all judgment unto the Son.’ (John 
Doe): 

While stating these fundamental facts, we 
disclaim any interest in recent attempts of 
Christian apologists to rationalize God’s myster- 
ies by writing and lecturing on “The Historical 
Christ,” or on “The Mission of the Nazarene.” 
Such efforts, provoked either by the assertions 
of bold atheists or by the queries of sceptical 
sophists, lead to nothing. We pity those who 
analyze the light of the sun under the candle of 
human reasoning. We care not about the 
atheists and their rambling talk. They are “the 
wise and prudent” from whom the Father has 
hidden the divine truth. They are the scribes 
and pharisees who “err not knowing the scrip- 
tures nor the power of God.” We are addressing 


34 


the publicans and sinners, including ourselves, 
into whose house came salvation (Luke 19, o) 
who received the kingdom and forgiveness of 
sins. With them let us consider the glory of the 
divine Son. 

The current belief that God made the world 
and Jesus saved it, appears to us one-sided and 
inaccurate. It is true that in the beginning 
Elohim, that is Father, Son and Holy Ghost 
combined, created the universe. But it is also true 
that the Son was authorized by the Father to be 
the architect of the great plan and to give it 
shape and form. Read John 1, 3; Col. 1, 16; 
Rom. 11, 36; Eph. 3, 9. It was Jesus therefore 
who in the presence of adoring angels pro- 
nounced the six creative words, each calling a 
world into existence, while all around Him the 
morning-stars sang together and Seraphim 
lauded his glory. 

How many fail to appreciate the fact that 
Jesus is the Jehovah of the Old Testament! It 
is written that “no one hath seen God at any 
time; the only begotten Son hath declared 
Him.” Jesus also says “who seeth me, 
seeth the Father,” and we conclude that it was 
the second person of the Trinity, not the first 
who called in the garden of Eden “Adam, where 
art thou?”; who communed with Abram in the 
plains of Mamre, ate the crude meal of Sarah’s 
kitchen and, as the risen Lord, two thousand 


years later, divided fish and honey with the - 


‘ 35 


SSRI 


disciples. He, the “Word” that was with God, 
gave the commandments out of the clouds on Mt. 
Sinai, spake face to face with Moses and was 
the spiritual rock of which Israel drank in the 
desert. It was he whom “some of them tempted 
and were destroyed by serpents” (1 Cor. 10, 9). 
He is the “Word of Jehovah,” which came to 
the prophets. He warned his enemies that they 
would suffer upon his return in glory. “Jehovah 
with all his saints’ (Deuteronomy 33, 2) is 
“Christ with all his saints” (1 Thes. 3, 13). 

Accept this truth and your horizon will be 
infinitely broadened. God comes nearer to man. 
You learn to know the significance of Israel. 
This great people has been hidden under the 
cover of Moses. We now see why Jesus first 
appeared to the Hebrews and emphasized the 
thought of divine justice. We also understand 
more clearly the prophecies given to this peculiar 
people and refute as untenable the current belief 
that the church is the spiritual continuation of 
Israel. 

Or does this conception of Christ as Creator 
and Jehovah detract from the glory of the 
Father? “I and the Father are one,” said Jesus, 
thereby suggesting the infinite Oneness of the 
deity. Again “whosoever seeth me, seeth the 
Father’—an awe-inspiring revelation to the 
disciples! Whosoever honors the Son, honors 
the Father! Do we fully grasp this? Do we 
realize there is no service, adoration, reverence 


36 


or prayer offered to Christ in which the Father 
does not equally share? Nor can we worship the 
Father without also praising the Son. Jesus is 
“the beginning of the creation of God.” Rev. 
3, 14. He is the union between man and his 
maker, between the temporal and the eternal. 
He is the link hetween matter and mind, the 
great harmonizer, the mediator. God the Father 
is the Deity of shoreless eternity ; the Son created 
time: “In the beginning.” Within him lies the 
origin of aeons, of centuries, of immeasurable 
_ periods, of the eternity for which we are created. 
He is the evolution of the divine thought. 
Through Him the idea of God became manifest 
to man. Christ is God and God is Christ. For 
this reason we can apply all the marvelous revela- 
tions of divine power in Nature to the Son as 
well as to the Father. ‘The Father that dwelleth 
in me doeth the works,” said Jesus. We are 
witnessing a love so wonderfully harmonious 
between Father and Son, a unity so complete, 
that our reason staggers. The Son beholding 
the Father in his illimitable glory exclaims “The 
Father is Greater.” The Father beholding the 
Son, responds: “My beloved Son, in whom I 
am well pleased!” The fullness of divine per- 
fection emanates from both. 

No wonder Christ will ever remain a miracle 
to man! His coming and going; his words and 
deeds, his whole career until his departure amid 
the clouds is more marvelous that any of the 


; 37 


wonders and signs he performed on earth. No 
matter how much you may revere him, if you 
fail to find in him the mystery of the Divine, you 
may as well worship a wooden crucifix. You 
resemble the ignoramus who professes to be- 
lieve in God, yet denies all miracles, as if the 
idea of a God and the idea of a miracle were 
not altogether inseparable. And yet there are 
those who would claim for such an unparalleled 
stupidity the height of enlightenment. 

Christ is also that which we are apt to call 
“law.” Not merely the law of Moses which, by 
the way, contains a wealth of divine ideas hither- 
to undiscovered. But Christ is more than that. 
He is the law of the universe. His thought is 
the equilibrium of creation. In our natural 
blindness we fail to recognize the divine principle 
underlying our very existence. We assume that 
the world moves about in a slip-shod fashion. 
We talk of chance. Last year we had a rainy 
summer; this year it will probably be dry. A 
comet appeared in the heavens, perhaps we'll have 
another. Questioning as to whether there is to 
be peace or war, or progress or retrogression, 
prosperity or adversity we still adhere to the idea 
of accident. The truth is that not only the shin- 
ing orbs of heaven, but every atom, every cows- 
lip and orchid-flower, every drop of water, 
as well as ouselves, are constantly being sustained 
by a supreme law. What is the soul of this 
law, aye of all the laws of the universe? The 


38 


Bible tells us that the whole cosmos is nothing 
but the continuous thought and will of Christ. 
He “upholdeth all things by the word of his 
power” (Heb. 1:3). His word sustains the 
firmament and causes the stars to swing in their 
orbits. All life has its source and secret in him. 
By Him and through Him winds and waves circu- 
late around the earth. He causes the blood to 
course through our veins, and the sap through the 
leaves of the tiniest plant. Behind every activ- 
ity of nature, like a soul behind the body, is his 
infinite intelligence, wise, just and firm of pur- 
pose. 

This Jesus, “yesterday, to-day and forever,” 
rules the kingdom of nature. Before Adam 
was made, he arranged the hoarding of sunlight 
in vegetation that it might afterwards furnish 
fuel for railroads and steamers by which mission- 
aries could reach foreign lands in search of souls. 
He caused the saurians of the Jura-sea to gather 
explosive oil that we might by means of motor- 
boats, autos or aeroplanes display our vanity and 
misery before all the world. He originated the 
great inventions and discoveries of history in due 
season, reserving for himself the final hour, when 
he will inscribe on the consciences of unjust 
stewards: “Weighed in the balances and found 
wanting.” And many there are who while dream- 
ing of Napoleon’s empires, will meet_ their 
Waterloo! 


Meanwhile we little people argue on earth as 
to whether or not His word is compatible with 
the enlightenment of our age. O depth of dark- 
ness! Know ye not that in the presence of the 
Christ our systems and theories are but as the 
prattling of babes? 

Consciously or unconsciously the iniquitous 
world hates the Divine law and government: 
“Tet us break their bonds asunder, and cast their 
cords from us!” (Psalm 2, 3). But it might as 
well shake the stars out of their orbits and dic- 
tate new principles of cause and effect! 

Christians, on the other hand, have clung too 
tenaciously to a narrow view of Christ and seen 
in Him simply a religious teacher. Jesus is the 
mainspring and fountain-head of all life. Out 
of Him, as a tree out of the root, rise all the 
laws of creation, whether they pertain to matter 
or mind, to heaven or hell, to atoms or plants! 
His thought is the underlying principle of chem- 
istry and physics. He creates and sustains the 
universe. We are too apt to find in Christ 
merely a suffering Savior or, going to another 
extreme, worship Him as sitting in His heaven 
as if forgetful of the realm of nature. For this 
reason our ideas lack organic coherence. They 
are not properly fused. In fact we have no 
adequate view of things (Weltanschauung). 
It is a grievous fault. 

Did not Christ say “To me is given all power 
in heaven and earth?” Once recognize in Him 


40 


_ the Divine law of nature and your life and lore 
will enormously grow in clearness and _ logical 
unity. It will radiate power and truth and also 
liberty! For the divine law means true liberty, 
a fact fully understood by those who live in 
Him (2 Cor. 3, 17). “Open thou mine eyes, 
that I may behold wondrous things out of thy 
law!’ (Psalm 119, 18). 

Christ is not only the prophet, but all the 
prophets... (Luke 24, 19; Deuter. 18, 15). In 
Him is hidden all wisdom; in Him the first and 
last thought of all eternities. Clear to Him are 
all the plans and purposes of the Father, even 
from the very beginning to the grand consum- 
mation, when God shall be “all in all.” He 
weaves into the web of history every thought 
and word of His children until the white gar- 
ment of holiness is completed. Just as in- 
numerable rays of light, flashing through space, 
cross each other without collision, and create in 
passing multitudinous images of perfect con- 
struction, so whatever man or devil may design, 
whatever may appear as answered prayer must 
serve at last as a part of His ever-harmonious 
wisdom. No wonder, therefore, that this all- 
seeing Christ can give revelations to David and 
Daniel, to Isaiah and John, for He is “the God 
of the holy prophets.” (Rev. 22, 6). “New things 
do I declare and the former things are come to 
pass.” (Isaiah 42,9). Because He is “King of 
Kings and Lord of Lords;” because He guides 


41 


human thought like the waters of a _ brook, 
powers and principalities are unconsciously sub- 
servient to His will. He is ever present in the 
deliberations of the world’s leaders, even when 
they “take counsel together and come to naught, 
for His name is Immanuel.” (Isaiah 8, 10). 

Jesus refused to accept the kingdoms of this 
earth and it is for that very reason that God 
gave them to Him. Now He controls the realm 
of the spirits in land and sea and air. He guards 
His people against “the gates of hell.” Because 
He holds the rudder of history, “the scriptures 
cannot be broken.” 

May God increase within us the knowledge 
of Christ, the prophet! Not that we should 
venture into any untimely interpretations of 
divine mysteries whose meaning is still hidden. 
(Dan. 8, 26; 12, 4, 19). But that we should rise 
into a loftier view of God and His wondrous 
purposes for humanity, for Israel and for the 
church. 

Gladly and without effort the Son manages 
creation. He does not groan beneath the gigantic 
task. Sitting upon the throne of glory He 
“laughs” (Psalm 2, 4) and His eyes like flames 
of fire lighten the universe. While His little 
brothers on earth struggle on with tears, He 
smiles, for He knows that all things must work 
together for good. He laughs at the frail efforts 
of Satan who is evermore being hurled from his 
rise to heaven like a flash from the sky. Christ 


42 


is the creative “Word” which inspires Cherubim 
and Seraphim and illuminates the human soul. 
This word is forevermore flooding with light the 
countless spheres of creation. When Christ says 
“yes” and “Amen,” harmonious echoes respond 
from the blessed host of heaven. When He says 
“no,” the iron gate of hell is shaken and in im- 
potent fury Satan curses his fate. O pour into 
our souls something of thy majesty and might, 
wonderful Christ! “For thine is the kingdom 
and the power and the glory forever and ever!” 
Let us see Thee in spirit, incarnate God, miracle 
of all miracles! Let us know Thee as the great 
legislator of the universe! Let us worship Thee 
as the fulfillment of the law! Thou art the true 
prophet, aye the sum-total of all that was ever 
prophecied. Thou hast become “the lamb of 
God that taketh away the sins of the world;” in 
adoration and praise we revere Thy unfathom- 
able love! Help us to join at last in the grand 
chorus of the redeemed! Worthy is the Lamb 
that was slain to receive power and riches, and 
wisdom and strength, and honor and blessing and 
gory lice CRev. 5,12). 

If we truly believe this, we shall cease to think 
of heaven as a dim and inhabitable zone. We 
shall no longer talk of “irreparable losses,” weep 
uselessly at tombstones and refuse to be com- 
forted because our loved ones have gone to para- 
dise! Unfortunately we have scores of Chris- 
tians whose view of things is woefully inade- 


43 


quate. Their spiritual lens is not properly ad- 
justed. Full of incongruities and absurdities is 
their idea of the beyond. They may assume in 
a general way that the souls of the just and 
unjust will continue after death. But their 
heaven is of peculiar construction. It may have 
room for the twelve apostles, but the law by 
which two times two are four does not seem to 
apply to it. 

Can there be a heaven without space, if we 
are to see the forms and faces of Christ and His 
disciples? Can there be a heaven without 
material things, if we are to eat and drink with 
Abraham, Isaac aad Jacob? If these “Christians” 
would understand what is meant by “the resur- 
rection of the body,” they would rejoice over the 
invitation to the table of the Lord around which 
will be assembled Elijah and Moses, Paul and 
James and John, the great and good souls of all 
ages! O listen to the inexhaustible chorus of 
joy and triumph: “Ave, Christe, Imperator!” 
Behold the wine of life and the fruits of heaven 
on the table of the King of kings! Let us be 
serious in our belief of “the new earth” and culti- 
vate within us the whole-souled appreciation of 
the glorious kingdom that is to come beyond all 
dreams of our imperfect earth! 

While it is right and meet that we should 
approach Christ in a spirit of deepest humility, 
aye even with a degree of affectionate confidence, 
we should guard against undue familiarity. The 


44 


Bible tells us that John, the beloved, who used 
to place his head upon the bosom of the Master, 
- fell as one dead when he saw the radiant 
countenance of the risen Lord. Will not some 
Christians who now fancy themselves on 
“chummy” terms with Jesus, have a similar ex- 
perience after death? 

Just as we have a belittling view of God, the 
Father, we are apt to put into too small a frame 
the picture of Jesus. Our religious literature, 
our songs and prayers are ever placing unbe- 
coming stress on the dear “ego.” Everything 
in the Bible is brought into relation to my own 
little self, every prophecy, whether pertaining 
to the nations of the earth, to Israel or the whole 
creation is apt to be made an appendix to our own 
exaggerated being. Even so deep a mind as that 
of Count Zindendorf fell into this error. His fol- 
lowers went even further and by developing an 
unworthy subjectivism, lost much of the influ- 
_ ence which should have emanated from a source 
so truly spiritual. The presumptuous folly of 
dragging Christ down to our own level cannot 
stand the test, when “the rain descends and 
the floods come and the winds blow and beat 
upon that house!” The earthquake of scepticism 
will shake it. The storm of worldliness will 
raze it to the ground. For this Christ, narrowed 
down to our prejudice, has ceased to be the 
infinite Lord who overcomes the powers of dark- 
ness. Religious egotism is ever sentimental, re- 


45 


sentful, peevish, unsound. It indulges in cant 
until the soul gets calloused. It fails to see things 
in proportion. [t makes self too large and the 
Savior too small. It is swayed from extreme to 
extreme. It is not godliness after the manner 
of Christ. 

On the other hand we should guard against 
the spirit of a fossilized orthodoxy. We have 
in mind those bigoted dogmatists who by arbi- 
trary and iron-clad interpretations of the Scrip- 
ture raise a barrier between the vision of the 
soul and the Infinitude of Christ. How few of 
them are capable of appreciating the great 
prophecy given to Israel in the ninth chapter to 
the Romans: “Israelites to whom pertaineth the 
adoption, and the glory, and the covenants and 
the giving of the law and the service of God 
and the promises!” Instead of recognizing here- 
in the future of the kingdom of God, these dog- 
matists apply to it a dull, artificial significance 
giving it a forced meaning in order to square it 
with their traditions. That God has ways of 
reaching “all nations’ (Matt. 25 SMa gee ciat 
there will be the “blessed of the Father’ among 
all races; that the gospel is being proclaimed to 
the dead (Eph. 4, 9); that “the whole creation 
waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of 
God,” (Rom. 8, 19) ; that there is forgiveness of 
sins even in the Beyond (Matt. 12, 32) ; that lion 
and leviathan, trees and flowers are also antici- 
pating the day of the grand restoration, all of 


46 


this seems foreign to their thought. They do 
not join in the hallelujah of “every creature 
which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under 
the earth, and such as are under the sea and 
all that are in them.” (Rev. 5, BS) 

Have a large Saviour and you will have a 
large heart. We limit ourselves too much to the 
Jesus who walked on the earth. While it js true 
that “the Word was flesh and dwelt among us,” 
that He suffered and died, we must not lose sight 
of the fact that He has ceased to be the Man 
of Sorrows, the lowlyNazarene who was rejected 
of men. This picture presents but one little 
chapter of God’s eternal Son. He says Him- 
self: “I was dead and am alive; I am Alpha 
and Omega ; the first and the last.” CRevo1,'8). 
Christ now sits in ineffable glory at the right 
hand of Power. He is enthroned as the King of 
eternity. Believing this we should have a more 
royal point of view, and instead of continually 
talking of our miserable sins, experience the thrill 
of His infinite power and joy. 

I believe that “Christian Art” has done much 
to lower our religious conceptions. Neither God 
nor Christ desired that there should be either 
picture or statue of that which lies beyond the 
imagination. Some artists refer to the fact that 
Jesus was “the fairest among the children of 
men ;’ others like Uhde emphasize that “in Him 
there was neither comeliness nor beauty.” Some 
have a blond-haired and some a dark-haired 


47 


Christ, there not being a shadow of evidence for 
either theory. We are not edified by looking at the 
halo place on His brow, nor by the toy-flag in 
the hands of the risen Lord. It is difficult to 
say which of the varied conceptions is the most 
grotesque. The old fathers of the church, 
Augustin, Chrysostom and Tertullian would not 
tolerate anything but Biblical verses in the sanc- 
tuary. But in the fourth century there arose 
the tendency to present, through painting or 
sculpture, memories of the earthly life of Jesus. 
“To picture Christ’s agonized countenance be- 
neath the crown of thorns is but a prolongation 
of the power of darkness,” says an English 
author of modern times. Certain it is that all 
attempts of tender, but misguided souls, to repro- 
duce Christ in pictures are detrimental to the 
progress of spiritual thought. They deserve the ; 
criticism of St. Paul: “Though we have known 
Christ after the flesh; yet now, henceforth, know 
we Him no more.” (2 Cor. 5, 16). 

There is also a superabundance of religious 
periodicals, tracts and booklets which do more 
harm than good because the Christianity, offered 
in them, lacks masculinity and bold progressive- 
ness. Our faith shines in the borrowed light of 
human authorities instead of being illuminated 
by the Son of Righteousness. Where is the re- 
ligious strength of a Paul and Peter, the defiant 
assurance so characteristic of early Christianity ¢ 
Where the complete and unconditional surrender 


48 


to the truth, the faith that knows no “ifs” and 
question marks? Instead of it we have a pale, 
sickly sort of religionism, permeated with Anglo- 
American fads, or we are swayed like a reed by 
every breath of Atheism, Adventism, Agnosti- 
cism, Christian Science. “Be manly and strong” 
is the apostle’s appeal to us. Do we heed it? We 
should have in our veins the blood of Puritan 
and Huguenot, spilled freely on scaffold and 
battlefield. We should know something of the 
glory of martyrdom, the quiet and unostentatious 
devotion of the great Lord, which required no 
experience meetings to be recognized. T rue 
saints endure heroically, because they have the 
blessed assurance of the living Christ. 

Just as the thought of God’s greatness enlarges 
man, so the vision of Christ’s glory gives power 
to the Christian. It is not as important to talk 
about the dear Saviour as it is to prove this fact 
in our words and actions. Let us remember 
that there is no better way of bearing witness to 
_ the Gospel than to be obedient to the Master’s 
commandments. What is the use of talking re- 
ligion, of advertising our loyalty to the Lord, if 
our deeds give the lie to our words? Did Jesus 
ever appeal to human courts to gain a point or 
to collect a debt? Did He defend His honor 
with tongue or pen and defend Himself like a 
lion against personal attacks? (John 8, 50; 1 
Peter 2, 23). Did He ask gifts of charity from 
Flis disciples or others, securing for His “chil- 


49 


dren” funds for future emergencies? (Mark 
6, 8; Luke 9, 3). Did He solicit endowments 
for worthy institutions? Did He encourage the 
signing of pledges, (Matthew 5, 37), the wear- 
ing of uniforms, the installation of the mourners’ 
bench and all kinds of religious gymnastics? 
(Luke 17, 20). Did He caution His disciples 
against the percentage of alcohol in the wine 
which he drank at the wedding of Cana? (Luke 
10, 17). Did He > order the building of ex- 
pensive cathedrals, which are in no_ sense 
imitations of Solomon’s temple designed by God, 
but merely copies of traditional Catholic archi- 
tecture? Or did He proclaim the religious equal- 
ity of the sexes selecting twelve female desciples 
and sending seventy women to preach the gospel? 

The most needful thing in our enervated age 
is a mililtary obedience to the Bible. This 1s 
more important than family worship or spas- 
modic religious advice. “If you obey me,” so 
runs God’s refrain throughout “the law and the 
prophets.” The Christian is a man who obeys. 
He does not judge things merely by results. He 
listens to orders. King Saul thought that he 
might please God by sacrificing the oxen of 
Amalek, but Samuel informed him that obed- 
ience was better than sacrifices. (1 Sam. 15, 22). 
A true child of God is obedient to the word in 
his daily life; in questions of matrimony and 
pedagogy, in matters of law and politics. Or 
are we to set aside the Bible as an antiquated 


50 


volume and prefer the fashions of the age? Shall 
we, like the subjects of Eva Booth, bow to the 
religious leadership of woman? The leadership 
of woman has been a symptom of religious de- 
cline, ever since the fatal event described in 
Genesis 3, 17. “Women rule over my people ; 
they which lead thee, cause thee to err”—thus 
cried the ancient prophet. (Isaiah 3, 2 yest 
is written that women should be obedient to their 
husbands in all things. Read. 1 Cor. LhenSue9 
1 Tim. 2, 13, 14. The Bible never concedes to 
woman the “Jus Docennpr.” “Let your women 
keep silence in the churches; for it is not per- 
mitted unto them to speak.” (1 Cor. 14, 34, 35); 
Who can doubt that God has good psychological 
and pedagogical reasons for such a command- 
ment? It is a fact that the teaching of women 
has ever been disastrous to the race and that her 
influence in modern Christian literature has 
helped to make the faith superficial and shallow. 
With all due respect to the gentler sex, its 
varied and undisputed attainments along the 
lines of motherhood and training of children, we 
must admit that it lacks the clear, logical faculty, 
the gift of discernment (1 Cor. 12, 10) so 
essential to the preaching of the Gospel. Now 
I claim that the Bible teaching is very clear on 
this point. Either we accept or reject. There 
is no half-way attitude. All those who endorse 
the public utturances of women, attend such 


of 


gatherings, or lend their influence to the femin- 
izing of the pulpit offend the law of God. 

And what shall we say of weak-kneed Chris- 
tians who occasionally drop a line into the public 
press endorsing the truth of the Gospel and lack 
the courage to sign their name? If you are a 
man and a Christian, you will indentify yourself 
with the cause of the Master. And what of those 
who fear a railroad accident when they travel by 
land, and a marine disaster when they cross the 
ocean? Read Matthew 8, 26. What of those 
who carry burglar insurance and lock their door 
against thieves? “For Thou Lord makest me 
dwell in safety,” says the Bible. (Psalm 4, 8). 
Little honor for the great Christ, when his fol- 
lowers ask for medical advice and listen with 
mystified adoration to the oracles of the physi- 
Carte (2 Cor 16, 12). 

“Healing by prayer” is a popular topic in our 
time. And while we consider the calling of a 
doctor permissible and even useful, we must in- 
sist that the Christian, living in communion with 
God, has the privilege of consulting his Father 
in matters of sickness and health, for it was God 
who said “I am the Lord, thy physician.” And 
even, if he should receive no response save the 
assurance that “grace must suffice,” he will find 
comfort in the fact that greater Christians than 
himself, men like Paul and Luther and Livings- 
tone have also suffered. With gratitude the | 
Christian receives whatever God sends, be it 


32 


sickness or health. (Rom. 8, 28). Make yourself 
useful to God and He will preserve you, but 
should He think best that you be advanced to the 
higher sphere, go gladly and murmer not! 
Surely the curse of the apostle, first spoken to 
Simon (Acts 8, 20) applies fully to these modern 
women who claiming to pray people into well 
being demand a compensation in cash. I also 
deny the right of the Christian to appeal to the 
courts. Surely you cannot have a strong and 
omnipresent Lord, if you try to collect debts 
through the agencies of human law and attempt 
to square accounts at the bar of earthly justice. 
“I say this to your shame. Why do ye not rather 
take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer your- 
selves to be defrauded?’ (1,Cor. 6,7). I do 
not believe that a Christian should insure his 
life, should provide for a rainy day, accumulate 
wealth. (Matthew 6, 25, 31, 32). We also com- 
mit a sin by recognizing any human authority. 
(Matthew 23, 8). 

However, none of us has been without guilt. 
We sin again and again. The whole career of a 
Christian is a conflict. The world would lure 
us with the siren voices of art and _ science. 
Temptations of the flesh spring up like weeds 
in the soil. Conscience awakes and tortures us. 
However, we have an advocate with the F ather, 
Jesus Christ, the righteous! He forgives what- 
ever sins and shortcomings are still clinging to 
us. His mercy has no bounds. Never He re- 


53 


proached for past sins those that appealed to 
Him. There is but one sin that cannot be for- 
given. “Ye say: we see; therefore your sin re- 
maineth.”” (John 9,41). “If we say we have no 
sin, the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1, 8). 

Ask God for the manifestation of a great 
Savior. In this age of doubt, when the spirits 
of evil are literally “in the air,” we need clear- 
ness, courage, freedom and wisdom. But with- 
out Him we can do nothing. Remember His 
promise: “The truth shall make you free!” 
WHOSOEVER SHALL ConFESS THAT JESUS IS THE 
Son oF Gop, Gop DwELLETH 1n Him anp HE IN 
Gop. (1 John 4, 15). 


54 


iil 


I Believe In the Holy Ghost Who 
Spake By the Prophets 


; NTHRONED together with Father and 
RK Son, there is a third personality, un- 
fathomable, divine—the Holy Ghost. 
_ We have a right to call Him a personality, 
because Jesus authorized His disciples to baptize 
“in the name of the Father, the Son and the 
Holy Ghost,” and also tells of “the Comforter 
who will speak what He hears from the Father.” 
(John 16, 13). To John the Baptist the Holy 
Spirit appeared in the form of a dove, descending 
upon the Christ, while the writer of Revelation 
saw Him as a sevenfold light. (Rev. 4, 5). 
The Holy Spirit sent a message of peace to the 
seven congregations and the apostle prays that 
“the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of 
God and THE CoMMUNION oF THE Hoty Sprrrr’ 
might remain with his brethren. (2 Cor 13 ,13). 
There is a trinity in man consisting of the body 
which the Father created, the soul which the Son 
redeemed and the spirit with which the Holy 
Ghost holds communion. In an infinitely deeper 
sense (1 Thess. 5, 23) we find the Trinity in the 
Godhead. 


55 


The Holy Ghost shares omnipotence with the 
Father and the Son. He was in the beginning, 
is now and ever shall be, light of light, very God 
of very God, begotten, not made: “The Lord 
possessed me in the beginning of His way, before 
His works of old. I was set up from ever- 
lasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth 
was. When there was no depth I was brought 
forth; when there was no fountains abounding 
with water. Before the mountains were settled, 
before the hills was I brought forth. While as 
yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields, 
nor the highest part of the dust of the world. 
When He prepared the heavens I was there; I 
was daily His delight (artist) rejoicing always 
before Him. (Prov. 8, 22, 30). Elohim made 
the world of individual spirits entrusting them 
with the material universe as a means of making 
themselves manifest. But no created spirit can 
have manifestation without the Holy Spirit. Nor 
can any kind of matter exist without spirit. 
What we call “the forces of Nature” are merely 
the breath of the Holy Ghost. All force and 
spirits are emanations of the One, Almighty, — 
Holy Spirit of God. 

It is difficult for some Christians to think of 
the Holy Ghost as a personality, and one of the 
most miserable results of modern philosophy 
and of the higher criticism, is the exaggeration 
of the human personality and a corresponding 
loss of faith in the personality of the Triune God. 


56 


For these critics there is no personal God, neither 
in heaven above nor in the earth below. The 
universe appears to them void of divinity. God, 
the mainspring and author of creation, whose 
personality is supreme, is fading in the fog of 
their fancy. Because we are at such close range 
to things material, we fail to recognize the soul 
back of them. We speak of fire and water, rain 
and storm as if these phenomena had an inde- 
pendent existence. The Bible does not recognize 
such a view-point. It emphasizes the truth that 
whatever we see and taste and hear is but the 
expression of a thought, a personality back of it. 
In the one hundred and fourth Psalm we read 
that God “maketh His angels spirits; His min- 
isters a flaming fire.’ Out of the absolute, in- 
tensely personal, though infinite nature of God, 
unnumbered personalities are evermore proceed- 
ing which are back of the sensuous creation in 
its varied aspect, even if we fail to see them and 
speak of mere material things. It is absurd to 
think of “the good” as an abstract idea, for back 
of “the good” is a personality: God. It is er- 
roneous to speak of evil as a shapeless concep- 
tion; back of all evil is a personality: the devil. 
Whatever is good, comes from God. Whatever 
is evil, comes from the devil. Man is neither 
“the good” nor “the evil one.” Whatever appears 
in him as good or evil is caused by outside in- 
fluences. Not being the author of either sin or 
holiness, he can merely accept or reject what is 


37 


offered to him from without. He can choose be- 
tween God and Satan, heaven and hell. The uni- 
verse is one grand inspiration, emanating partly 
from God, partly from the devil. We are living 
in a world of symbols and results, back of which 
is the world of causes, of realities, of person- 
alities. 

Seven spirits stand before the throne of God. 
(Rev. 1, 4). The fact that there are seven 
proves that they differ from each other. And 
yet the seven are one. Just as there are five 
fingers and one hand, many branches and one 
tree, one ray of light and seven colors, one 
fountain and numerous arches of spray so, cor- 
responding to the principle of nature, there are 
seven spirits. Note the reference made to this 
fact in the Old Testament, (Isaiah 11, 2): 
“The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him; the 
spirit of wisdom and understanding; the spirit 
of counsel and light; the spirit of knowledge 
and of the fear of the Lord.” It is no easy task 
to grasp these fine distinctions in the personality 
of God, but nature makes some helpful sugges- 
tions along that line. She gives us the seven 
hues of the rainbow, seven sounds forming the 
foundation of all words; the number of tastes 
and smells emanating from all beings; above all 
the variety of the senses, those half-darkened 
windows of the soul, by which we can link our- 
selves to the seven spirits of God. Every creature 
is the child of whatever spirit is uppermost in 


58 


influence; every soul has its peculiar color and 
vowel, its preeminent taste, be it sharp, mild, 
bitter, sour, contractive or expansive. All these 
tendencies determine temperament, physiognomy, 
character and indicate the influence they will ex- 
ert on others. And “beneath it all,” says Boehme, 
“is the birth-pang and travail.” Painfully the 
root gathers its constituent parts, but the fruit 
is sweet. . 

Christ, speaking of Himself, has told us that 
unless a grain of wheat die, it must abide alone. 
Life out of death! Renunciation is the grave 
over which will rise the sweetness of life, the 
beauty of speech and the majesty of noble 
actions. But in the world to come we shall have 
a “heavenly” existence, caused by the ceaseless 
activity of the seven spirits, harmonizing the laws 
of numbers, words, melodies, colors and all the 
senses. 

To the human race God first appeared as the 
creator, the author of the universe. Again He 
manifested Himself as the Savior, the beloved 
Son. Finally He comes as the Holy Spirit, the 
divine breath which pervades the universe. 
“Thou sendest forth Thy spirit, they are 
created.” (Psalm 104, 30). This breath of 
God is the unknown force called “life.” It beams 
in the sunshine, hums in the bee, sings in the 
bird, soars with the eagle, thrills and throbs in 
the human heart. 


59 


pruemnenemenis: 


And just as a man turning to God, or rather 
“being turned” to God, will find in the first 
person of the Trinity a Father and in the second 
person a loving Savior, so the Holy Ghost comes 
to him as a Comforter. It is the Holy Spirit who 
illumines the mind (Prov. 4) and grants wisdom 
to those who seek it. (Luke 11, 13). He ex- 
plains the scriptures and the words of Christ. Be- 
cause He is “holy” He is gradually winning the 
soul from unhallowed tendencies, never ceasing 
in this gracious work until the day of death. 

And as the Father is in the Son—“God was 
in Christ, reconciling the world unto Him- 
self”’—and the Son in the Father, so the Holy 
Spirit is in both of them. Separation is im- 
possible. Wherever the Father is, there is the 
Son, and where the Son is there is the Holy 
Ghost; and where the Holy Ghost is, there is 
Father and Son. We are not offering to explain 
the mystery. We simply state the fact. 

One characteristic feature of the Holy Spirit is 
His freedom: “The wind bloweth where it 
listeth.” We can not force Him to do our bidding. 
We may pray to Him. But He will come in His 
time, not ours, modern revivalists notwithstand- 
ing. 

This fact should be strongly emphasized at a 
time when Christianity is assuming a sentimental 
and effeminate physiognomy. Guard against 
sensational advertising: “Christ is here or 
there!” “Behold my servant whom I have 


60 


chosen! He shall not strive, nor cry; neither 
shall any man hear his voice in the streets. ” 
(Matthew 12, 19). 

The Bible admonishes se toy. “plirily. our 
souls.” (1 Pet. 1, 22). A timely advice, while 
mankind is rushing after fads and fashions. We 
should steer clear of all artificial, sensational, 
hysterical religionism. We should discern with 
that fine discrimination which is indeed a gift of 
heaven, what is genuine and what false, what 
Christianity and what its caricature. 

Many so-called revivals, loudly advertised, are 
naught but fires of straw, though we may hope 
that some souls, attending them, have been con- 
verted. We should never forget that the Holy 
Spirit is a sane agency for good. I caution . 
against all forms of Christianity which savor 
of the sensational, producing psychopathetical 
men and hysterical women. Our great reform- 
ers had their faults, but as we review the careers 
of Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Knox, Huss, we 
find them sane and full-orbed men, defiant in the 
storm of life; ready to die for the truth. Nor 
can I see any attempt of sensationalism in the 
preaching of the apostles. They used no the- 
atrical effects, no moving pictures or musical 
attractions to reach the human heart. Nothing 
is deeper or higher than the plain, childlike faith! 

What is the mission of the Holy Spirit? “God | \ 
gives knowledge and wisdom.” This we hold is | 
the great task of the Holy Spirit. “He, the spirit | \ 


61 


of truth, the Comforter, which proceedeth from 
the FATHER Witt Guipe You Into ALL TRUTH. 
He SHALL TAKE oF MINE AND SHALL SHOW IT 
Unto You.” (John 14 and 16). How can this be 
done, since the Holy Spirit is not walking visibly 
among us? Through infusion, inspiration. He 
has the power to communicate divine wisdom 
and divine power to human spirits receptive for 
it. The soul which is the breath of God, being 
purified by the inflowing stream of truth, re- 
ceives not merely religious feelings, but words 
of truth which become its blessed possession. 
When God breathed His spirit into Adam He 
poured into one man the possibility of all human 
souls. Just so the Holy Spirit produces a variety 
of results always co-operating with the individu- 
ality, the characteristic features of the recipient 
soul. He is also fire and light and therefore in- 
tensifies the dominant hue of every personality. 
This appears strikingly in the works of the great 
prophets and apostles. They received the same 
spirit but reproduced His gift in a variety of 
ways. Thus we must view the nature of the 
“verbal inspiration.” The Bible is certainly not 
“a dictation to automatic writers.” It is “spirit 
and life.” Do ye not err, therefore, because ye 
know not the scriptures neither the power of 
God? (Mark 12, 24). Only “the poor in spirit” 
can and will receive the Holy Ghost. 

Nowadays we have grown so “wise” that we 
seem to get along without that wisdom with 


62 


which God inspired Solomon, even for the affairs 
of the present world. We receive second-hand 
information through the daily press, from 
atheists and unbelieving theologians. Little we 
have of the original force and initiative, of direct 
illumination, of inspiration. The Holy Spirit is 
ready to enter but we close the door. The result 
is that we have ceased to believe in the efficacy 
of prayer, Man, the child of dust, addresses God, 
the creator of heaven and earth: “Calm the 
storm, banish disease, fill my net with fishes, pro- 
vide the daily bread! No matter about the ‘laws 
of nature; I am not concerned about them. 
Father, I will!’ And the heavenly Father turns 
his angels into ministering servants. This is the 
truth, though Nicodemus queries “How can these 
things be?” 

To those who have eyes that see there can be no 
question that man, the little day-fly, ever sur- 
rounded by the elements of light and darkness, 
of good and evil, is inevitably subjected to the 
dual kingdom of spirits, and that His words, 
thoughts and deeds are constantly being inspired 
from above or from below. Just as in the regions 
of air strong winds are circulating around the 
earth, so there are in the spiritual realm spirits 
that are in the air and their prince. Gipin 2) 220 
The current phrase that “ideas are in the air” iS 
significant. “For we wrestle against the evil 
spirits of the air.” (Eph. 6, 12). There may be 
inferior minds (inspired by the prince of dark- 

63 


ness) who remain unconscious of this fact, but 
superior intellects have recognized it, Goethe ex- 
pressing it in his “Conversations with Eker- 
mann:” ‘“Productiveness of the highest order, 
lies beyond our volition and altogether beyond 
any human effort. In such cases man often be- 
comes a chosen vessel for the reception of a 
divine influence.” Aye, is there a Christian who 
amid trials and tribulations has not repeatedly 
experienced suggestions of evil, not of his own 
creation but clearly coming from without? This 
kind of inspiration is plainly taught in the Bible, 
and its recorded results are known as the world’s 
history. Thus only we can explain the annals of 
Rome and Carthage, of Islam, of the Reforma- 
tion, of the French Revolution. Spirits of revenge 
and defiance, of rebellion and conquest take hold 
of the nations. Consider the vision of Daniel. 
(Chap. 7, 16; 10, 11). Did Darius and Alexander 
realize that in whatever they did or omitted, they 
were controlled by invisible spirits? It is not 
probable that a single soldier in either the Persian — 
or the Macedonian army had the faintest idea of 
this great truth. Under the delusion that they were 
dependent on the blind fortunes of war, they 
trusted to the skill of their respective leaders. 
But the fact remains that the great generals and 
kings were merely fulfilling the will of higher 
powers (Dan. 4, 14) and that the strength of 
their arms, the word of their lips or the fire of 
their eyes was but a reflection of superior in- 


64 


spirations. The world is sustained and its 
history written by forces of good and evil whose 
suggestions are the potent and decisive agencies 
in the drama of man. Take a humble illustration 
of this marvelous fact. The breath of man in 
very cold weather turns into tiny particles of ice. 
Thus, on an infinitely higher scale, the world 
was made by God’s breath or “expiration.” And 
just as the fog will be dispelled by the rising rays 
of the sun, so this earth, contaminated by the 
breath of Satan, will dwindle into nothingness 
before the flaming countenance of Him who 
sitteth on the white throne. (Rev. 20, i he 
Evident it is that the world was called into 
existence by a supreme power and it is growing 
more certain to thoughtful scientists that it will 
eventually be dissolved. 

Note also that spirit is the author of the word. 
Animals not having the spirit are dumb. Enter 
a home and the atmosphere of your spirit will 
immediately create words of welcome, of joy, 
of hospitality, even before you have uttered a 
syllable. The same holds true of an audience 
which feeling the fire, the personality of the 
orator bursts into enthusiasm and-applause. If 
_ this can result from the activity of a human 
spirit, what wonderful response may be aroused 
by the work of the Holy Ghost! And still there 
may be those who query: “If He has no mouth, 
how can He speak? If He has no ears how can 
He hear our prayers? When will you under- 


65 


stand, ye brutish among the people? And, ye 
fools, when will ye be wise?” (Psalm 94, 7, 8). 

The Bible never ceases to tell us not merely 
that the Holy Spirit communicated thoughts to 
holy men, but that He literally spoke. “Then the 
Spirit said unto Philip, Go near and join thyself 
to this chariot.” (Acts 8, 29). “The Spirit said 
unto Peter, Arise and go with them, doubting 
nothing.” (Acts 10,19). “The Holy Ghost said, 
Separate me Barnabas and Saul.” (Acts 13, 2). 

Did not God speak to Balaam? The Holy 
_ Spirit penetrated the innermost soul of this 
_ prophet, who, though the carrier of a divine 
- revelation was doomed to die. “The Lord put 
- the word in Balaam’s mouth,” (Numbers 23, 5), 
‘truly a “verbal inspiration!’ Thus also God 
spoke to Elijah, (2 Kings 1, 4), also to Isaiah, 
“Return and tell Hezekiah”’—a verbal inspira- 
tion! Thus the scriptures call themselves “the 
Word of God.” The whole law of Sinai was a 
verbal transmission of Jehovah to Moses and 
Christ assures us that not an iota of it shall 
perish. “For the prophecy came not by the will 
of man; but holy men of God spake as they 
were moved by the Holy Ghost.’ (1 Peter 
LyiZl)s 

Do we need further evidence? In the grand 
vision of Isaiah Jehovah asks, “Whom shall I 
send? And I answer: Here I am, send me. 
And he said: Go thou and speak to this people: 
Tuus SarrH THE Lorp!” (Isaiah 59, 21). God 


66 


says to the prophet Jeremiah: “Go thou whither 
I send thee; and WHATSOEVER I ComMMAND 
Ture, THou SHALT SPEAK.” (Jeremiah 1, 7). 
Of Joel we read: “This is the word of the Lord 
that came to Joel.” (Joel 1, 1). 

In the New Testament Jesus asserts that “the 
scriptures cannot be broken ;” Paul puts stress on 
the fact that the gospel he preaches is of divine 
origin : “Not the spirit of the world, but the spirit 
which is of God that we might know the things 
that arereiven of God.”-(1 Cor.’ 2,13)... But 
nothing can bear stronger witness to the nature 
of “verbal inspiration” than the prophecy of 
Christ, “Take no thought how or what ye shall 
speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour 
what ye shall speak; for it is not ye that speak, 
but the Spirit.” (Matthew 10, 19). 

Sir James G. Brookes has found two thousand _\ 
repetitions of the scriptural phrases “thus saith ' 
the Lord,” and “God spake.’’ We may not be 
able to analyze the nature of this inspiration, but 
certain it is that Christ—Jehovah makes Himself 
known. “If there be a prophet among you, I 
the Lord will make myself known to him 
in a vision and will speak to him in a dream.” 
(Numbers 12, 6). Paul tells us in the first 
chapter to the Hebrews that God spake “in divers 
manners.” Why and how this revelation came 
to certain people is not of prime importance. 
The fact is that it came. And, if the Bible means | 
nothing by telling us two thousand times that 


67 


“the Lord spake,’ we certainly have no use 
for it! 

Let us make a distinction between those books 
which we have in the original text and others 
that have come to us in the form of translations. 
For everybody knows that any kind of transla- 
tion, be it ever so accurate, lacks the power of 
the Hebrew or Greek text. That there are many 
languages and, therefore, merely an imperfect 
version of God’s word is due not to a divine ar- 
rangement, but to human sin which through the 
erection of the tower of Babel caused the con- 
fusion of tongues. For this reason we should 
bear our loss in humility, instead of arguing 
about it in a more or less arrogant fashion. 
What would you think of a child who, upon the 
receipt of his father’s letter, would exclaim: 
‘While the language, the nature, the purpose of 
this letter seems to indicate that it was written 
by my father, I notice the want of a comma, 
blurring ink-spots and misspelled words. I re- 
fuse to believe that father dictated this letter. 
It is a forgery!” 

The Bible is a “dictation,” our critics notwith- 
standing. Of Moses it is said, that “he wrote 
into a book all the words of the law,’ which 
Jehovah revealed to him. Seven times Christ 
gives orders to St. John to “write to the angel 
of the congregation, what the spirit says to the 
congregation.” We assert that a son receiving 
instructions from his father relative to his con- 


68 


duct in life, would be curiously ungrateful, 
should he reply: “I do not care about such in- 
structions, because they make me “a helpless tool 
in thy hands.” We also insist that, should the 
Holy Ghost choose us as instrumens of His in- 
spiration, we should be profoundly appreciative, 
and gladly become “ready pens” for His dicta- 
tion. The fact remains that the Holy Spirit is 
an active force, communicating His thoughts to 
souls which are worthy, and that this communi- 
cation is invariably followed by a state of highest 
enthusiasm in those receiving it. It is this vital 
fellowship which is hinted at in Acts 15, 28: “It 
seems good to the Holy Ghost and to us!” 

The relationship between God and man is 
naturally much more intimate than any earthly 
communion between friends or lovers, flowing 
as it does from the soul of the Most High into 
humble hearts and ever producing emotions of 
highest ecstacy. That people who never exper- 
ienced it are incapable of understanding it, is 
clear enough. “The natural man receiveth not 
the things of the Spirit of God.” (1 Cor. 2, 14). 

The Bible is most certainly inspired. It reveals 
facts pertaining to the human heart and its sin- 
fulness which, though repugnant to our natural 
way of thinking, find undeniable confirmations 
in history and personal experience; it also un- 
veils a truth which never could have been con- 
ceived in the mind of man, the glorious fact that 
“God gave His only Son that all that believe in 


69 


Him, should not perish, but have everlasting 
life.’ Do you know of any religion which re- 
vealed a God dying for His enemies? I call at- 
tention to the marvelous prophecies concerning 
Israel and Christ that have been fulfilled before 
our very eyes. Did Confucius, Buddha, Ma- 
homet venture to prophecy anything at all? 
There are millions of people who have exper- 
ienced the truth of Christianity, who have been 
comforted by it in their suffering, glorified by it 
in the hour of death. This is so true that thous- 
ands of martyrs rather died than denied ! 

I know that there are people who speak of the 
“verbal inspiration” as if it were a “difficult, 
theological problem.”’ Fortunately it is neither 
“difficult” nor “theological.” The word of the 
Father is received by the trusting child without 
further argument. It says: “I believe—CREDo.” 
Whoever refuses to accept verbal inspiration and 
prefers to look upon the Bible as trustworthy 
in some respects, and not to be taken seriously 
in others, openly confesses that he does not be- 
lieve in the Holy Ghost. We should bear in mind 
that the modern tendency to deny the reliability 
of the Biblical record is primarily a denial of 
THE PERSONALITY OF THE Hoty Spirit, His 
PowER AND FREEDOM. What mental poverty, 
what arrogance and spiritual blindness to limit 
the Holy Spirit! To assert that this great “Com- 
forter’ and guide of truth, cannot create in the 
human soul words of eternal life! Have we for- 


70 


gotten the promise of Christ that His Holy Spirit 
will lead us into all truth? Think of the folly 
of man who cannot explain the origin of any 
idea nor its subsequent formation into words, 
yet denies the mystery of divine inspiration! 

A noted novelist has recently compared the 
fallibility of science with the fallibility of the 
scriptures. The comparison is unfortunate. 
Science is not faulty, but incomplete. If science 
assures us that a single ray of light is composed 
of seven colors, the statement is absolutely true. 
But it is equally true that science does not 
possess all the facts about the law of light. It 
_ seems that the words of Christ, spoken to His 

disciples, apply also to those who would defend 
the faith against stubborn unbelief: “O fools 
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets 
have spoken!” 

Do you hear the distant rumbling of the storm? 
Do you see the ripples on the water, forerunners 
of the approaching typhoon? Do you notice the 
whirlwind in the streets of our large cities, scat- 
tering through the air dust, straw and accumu- 
lated waste? Soon the clouds will burst and de- 
structive torrents of the judgment pour another 
deluge upon our godless generation! Can you 
see the lightning preceding the final tempest 
that will raise the universe out of its hinges? 
How many wilted leaves and barren branches 
will be swept away? Are there not “Christians” 
who put their faith in crucifixes, candles, cere- 


- iq 


monies, lip service and conventional piety? The 
thunderbolts of God will blast many a proud 
oak of Basan, many a cedar of Lebanon, not 
rooted in the word of truth! 

“And there shall be signs in the sun and in 
the moon and in the star; and upon the earth 
distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and 
the waves roaring!” Decayed timber of 
hypocrisy, whited sepulchres of bigotry, frail 
structures of philosophy will go crashing into 
the abyss! “Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it 
not be said unto you, Where is the daubing 
wherewith ye have daubed it?” (Ezek. 13, 12). 

Just as archaeologists discover original in- 
scriptions under the debris and ruins of ancient 
cities, so the plain and powerful truth shall be 
revealed and laid bare amid the pile of human 
rubbish and clap-trap which has been accumu- 
lated during centuries of gradual degeneration. 
“Adam, where art thou?” will be the question of 
Jehovah to mankind hiding behind all kinds of 
foliage. Then the royal purple and the clerical 
robe, the finery of the stage and the glittering 
gown of society will drop to the ground. Nude 
and trembling, like Adam and Eve, humanity 
must appear before the allseeing eye of God. 
Millions will hear the question, first addressed to 
Cain: “Where is Abel, thy brother?’ Whole 
pyramids of unjust laws will crumble under the 
verdict of Eternal Justice: “an eye for an eye, 
a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life.’ Commerce 


72 


and politics, nations and their transactions must 
abide by the Master’s words: ‘“Whatsoever. ye 
would that men should do to you; do ye even so 
to them; for this is the law and the prophets.” 
(Matthew 7, 12). 

The feministic movement will be judged ac- 
cording to the scriptural rule given in Gen. 2, 23, 
24 and Tim. 2, 12. Many a philosophy will be 
stunned by the question, (Psalm 94, 9), “He that 
made the eye, can He not see; He that made the 
ear, can He not hear? He that chastiseth the 
heathen, shall not He correct?” Aye, much dis- 
cussion about orthodoxy will be hushed by the 
words (Micah 6, 8) “Oh man, what does 
the Lord require of thee, but to do justly; and 
to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God!’ 

How can we gather strength, courage and 
patience to meet the imminent catastrophe? 
Surely not by a foolhardy criticism of the Word 
of God, the only rock which has survived for 
our comfort and strength during the wreck of 
civilization! Or are God’s promises unreliable? 
Is it sufficient to listen to a few aesthetical lec- 
tures and man-made theories of salvation? Be- 
ware of such suggestions which emanate from 
the spirit “that evermore denies.” The rock of 
ages stands, though bats and owls and ravens 
fly about it, croaking at its storm-tried sublimity ! 

And when the Lord will come with the trump 
of the archangel and “shall gather together the 
elect from the four winds, from the uttermost 


73 


parts of the earth,” not many wise men after the 
flesh, not many mighty, not many noble will be 
received into the kingdom. The radiant host of 
the redeemed will rise from the depth of the 
sea, from hospitals, dungeons, attics and dens 
of loneliness! They will still wear the rags of 
poverty, their faces emaciated, their shoulders 
bent, for they come from much tribulation. They 
were men who never clamored for earthly recog- 
nition or prestige, who sought no high places nor 
preferments, who had no faith in human _phi- 
losophies. They, “the poor in spirit” will be made 
princes of light in the endless realms of eternity. 

To sum up. Father, Son and Holy Ghost 
created the heavenly host, powers, principalities 
and all things that live and move and have their 
being. They aimed at perfect harmony between 
matter and mind. But when Satan caused dark- 
ness in the kingdom of light, discord arose be- 
tween the material and the spiritual, not only 
affecting the body of Adam, which was doomed 
to die, but also overcasting his soul with the 
darkness of sin. All human misery arises from 
this conflict between flesh and spirit. Since the 
fall of man, the earth is reluctant in giving up 
her wealth. The soil is full of thorns and weeds. 
In the sweat of his brow the toiler gathers food 
to sustain his wearisome struggle. How much 
effort it requires to lift the stone from the 
quarry, the coal from the mine, steel from the 
bowels of the earth! How futile the human at- 


74 


tempt to find lasting delight in the works of His 
hands! Man cannot escape from final decay. 
Death will come to terminate his painful strug- 
gles. It is the painful separation of spirit and 
flesh. “The king of terrors” comes to give 
relief. 

Many Christians fail to grasp the significance 
of the relation between body and soul. All 
material things to them are more or less unde- 
sirable. They would grow so spiritual that the 
physical would become superfluous. This shows 
a lack of understanding relative to the creation 
of man. The body has a divine mission which is 
by no means ended in death, but continues in the 
world to come. Does not the Bible speak of our 
“eating” and “drinking” in heaven? We repeat 
that the celestial world is the prototype of the 
terrestrial. There could be no bodies on earth, 
if there were no bodies in heaven. This is clearly 
taught in Col. 1, 20. In the world to come the 
discord between flesh and spirit will revert to its 
original harmony and perfection. 

Take hold of the great truth that Christ con- 
-quered death and that His triumph means the 
glorious consummation of our physical and 
spiritual selves. “The just shall: shine as the 
sun’’—this is the mighty prophecy! The sun is 
the fairest creation of God. Winds, waves, ebb 
and flow, are controlled by Him. He rules 
Niagara; He causes the gulfstream to circle 
around the continents. He inspirits the animal 


75 


kingdom and makes plants to grow. The color of 
my cheeks, the muscles of my arm, the atoms of 
my brain, all emanating from sun-power! Thus 
the redeemed shall become suns of influence, full 
of creative energy! Just as the beams of the 
shining sun penetrate into every part of the 
universe, the just shall fill eternity with oceans 
of harmony and love! 

Heavenly light and power will be transformed 
into song and sound. Sound means the word 
and song means music. These are the sublimest 
combinations of matter and mind. Think of the 
force of mind which, causing vibrations in the 
air, can produce sounds which praise, laud and 
glorify the Creator. “For by thy words thou 
shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt 
be condemned! (Matthew 12, 37). Song is the 
utterance of words according to the law of num- 
bers, for numbers mean time, rhythm, melody, 
harmony. “Music,” said Leibnitz, “is an uncon- 
scious calculation of the soul.” Wonderful 
thought! Music the most ethereal art so closely 
allied to the “prosiest’” of sciences: Mathematics ! 
But those who know the significance of numbers 
and have recognized in their combination the 
secret of the universe, are not surprised. Elohim, 
three persons and one God, together with His 
seven spirits, created the world and arranged it 
according to weights, dimensions and numbers. 
To them the cosmos is vibrant with “the music 
of the sphere.” We are still clothed in this 


76 


muddy vesture of decay and do not hear. 
“Where wast thou,” Jehovah asks of Job “when 
the morning stars sang together?” But over the 
destruction of the present earth, heavenly choirs 
will chant the mighty song of judgment. (Rev. 
Ligh 73); 

Then the sublime orchestra of all creation, 
“every creature which is in heaven and on the 
earth and under the earth,’ led by the Holy 
Spirit and accompanied by golden harps and in- 
numerable voices of the celestial host, will intone 
the everlasting ‘Tze Deum lLaupamus’—we 
praise Thee, oh Lord.” 

O the height and the depth and the length and 
the breadth of the love of God! Man, the atom, 
the child of dust, enthroned as the radiant sun 
of eternity! Striking paradox! The depth of 
littleness raised to the height of greatness! The 
poor in spirit exalted as high priests of all 
nations that are to be healed! (Rev. 22, 2). 
God, without losing a particle of His grandeur, 
can confer infinite glory upon every soul: “To 
Him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me 
in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am 
set down as with my Father in His throne.” 
(Rev. 3, 21). Almighty Father I cannot grasp 
the thought! Give us power to see Thee as Thou 
art, the Infinite, the Omnipotent, the Wonderful! 
Let us not be satisfied to look after individual 
salvation! Teach us to grow great in the thought 
of Thy greatness! Let us not merely talk of a 


ara 


personal Savior, a limited inspiration! Let us 
convince the world that our God is great, all- 
powerful, eternal! Thus can we silence the 
arrogance of infidelity and the mockery of the 
world. 
“And the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; the 
love of God; and the fellowship of the Holy 
Ghost be and remain with us all! Amen.” 


78 


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